


Origins

by synomous01



Category: Killjoys (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-05-27 00:03:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6261196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/synomous01/pseuds/synomous01
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Old Town has been levelled by the Company and D'avin is MIA. Leads to D'avin's whereabouts have gone cold, leaving Dutch and Johnny with no choice but to take on warrants by Bellus as they plan their next steps. Unknown to them is their most recent level 1 warrant delivery would turn out much more complicated than expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Killjoys or any of its characters.

Johnny Jaqobis stared out the view screen of Lucy and into the deep void of space. It seemed so cold, empty...and so very vast. Where were they going to find D'avin? Their last few leads since the bombing of Old town had no turn out. They knew that D'avin was alive and with Khlyen having found no signs of him on Westerley. If D'avin was in Khlyen's hands, Khlyen would know better than to hurt him - because if he did, Dutch would never go back to him. This of course was the only 'good' news Johnny could derive from everything that happened. After eight years of not knowing whether his brother was alive or dead, this was a welcome change though. But obviously being a hostage of Khlyen' was not a good thing, especially given the latest discovery: Khlyen was Level 6.

Their last encounter with a level 6 had been at the Ancestral Hall on Qresh. The man that Dutch had fought with was inhuman, unfazed from any attacks from Dutch - until of course when Johnny shot him when he licked Dutch. The thought of course, still disgusted Johnny. Seriously, who licked their opponents? While Dutch was sure that D'avin was alive she was unsure of what Khylen would do to him. Whatever it was, it was better than being dead, Johnny tried to remind himself. Not much of a consolation, but Johnny took what he could.

While D'Avin was presumed alive and missing, that couldn't be said for much of the people that were in Old Town. Although Hills had sounded the alarm as soon as he found out the Company was going to bomb the city, the casualties were still a sizable amount. The Company left no room for escape. To them, the citizens in Old Town were on the same level as rats in the tunnels - better to be exteriminated. Although it was said the target was to eliminate those that were a part of the Rebellion, Johnny knew better. The city was levelled to the ground by the Company based on orders from the Nine; all to avoid the follow through of the Seventh Generation Accord.

Well, really it wasn't really Nine any more was it? Delle Seyah Kendry had made sure of that with the genetic bomb that removed her rival families. Previously, Kendry had only two Lands, one in which she inherited - Land Kendry - and the other she held guardianship over until the child was of age, Land Lahani. The families spared on Qresh were the two families aligned with her: Land Simms and Land Derrish. Land Hiponia was gone, wiped out completely, so that left the land to split between the remaining ones. Johnny wasn't sure if really any of the rival families did survive; but seeing that it was a genetic bomb, maybe it would be able to wipe out one family at a time. Then again, if they weren't killed this time, there would be another time... this was only the beginning of Delle Seya Kendry's reign. She was after all, one very psycho b*tch.

Land Simms was spared though. That was a small Johnny still couldn't believe that Pawter came from a family like that. It was like night and Day. Whoever that had died incidentally under her care must have been important to be exiled like that. Johnny had to wonder, did Seyah Simms feel anything when she heard about Old Town being bombed? Or was she as cold as when Johnny delivered Pawter's heartfelt message to her.

Thinking about Pawter reminded him again to scan for any new transmissions retrieved from Westerley by Lucy.

When they had first returned to Old Town to look for D'avin and survivors, they had seen the damage on the city. Pree had been anxious to see if his bar, the Royale, had survived the bombing and had been more than relieved to see that it was still standing. How it looked on the inside was another story. Pree and the others that had been on the ship with them had opted to stay on Old Town and rebuild what they could. No matter what, it was still home to them. Without the Accord in place, it was the only choice that they had.

Johnny while on the surface of the moon had been ready to go on a search mission with Dutch to find Alvis and Pawter but instead they found them instead. The two along with the handful of people that were in the bunker with them were looking for survivors in Old Town. It hadn't been going too well. There was always a 50-50 chance of meeting those that were hostiles - those that believed the Scarbacks were to blame for their predicament, while others were too hopeless to care.

This was exactly what the Nine and the Company had planned for. Ensure that Westerlyns knew their place and incite hatred for those in the Rebellion. Scarbacks were not only the scapegoats of the Leith Massacre but also for the Assassination of families of the Nine on Qresh. This had been used as the reason for the bombing of Old Town and the dissolving of the Accord. If anything should piss surviving Westerlyns off it was this: all their hard work for the past seven generations had been wiped away. They were stuck in their social caste with no hopes of ever reaching beyond this industrial wasteland of a moon. Leith would only be a place where they slaved but never lived on.

The Nine had set things up well. There was no need to vote about the Accord, since all those that may have been pro with following through with the promise were dead. And the ones responsible for it were the rebels. The blame was all placed on the Scarbacks and their followers. Instead of having to deal with angry Westerlyns about the dissolving of the Accord, the blame was shifted to the Scarbacks and their followers. _They_ were to blame.

All the while the Nine and the Company were patting their own backs for keeping the Lands to themselves, the lives of those that lived in Old Town were forever changed. Those that died, only those that lived to know them mourned while the rest of the quad kept on going.

Casting a glance at Dutch, Johnny could almost sense her thoughts. While she remained strong in her resolve in finding D'avin, some despair had started to set in. She wasn't the only one. Johnny had repeatedly had to remind himself, D'avin was a _soldier_ , a damned good one at that. He could take care of himself, no matter where he was. But months had passed since the bombing. There was no telling what Khlyen may have done to him since. Dutch, though, must have an inkling. She was under that man's control for so many years, trained under him. Saw him as a mentor and then later a monster. Although Dutch had never said anything as much, Khlyen was in many ways like a surrogate father to her. Johnny couldn't imagine what that must have been like. And then to have her husband die by her mentors hands, to witness, it must have broken Dutch in so many ways. And now to have D'avin, another person she held close to her heart be taken by that same man, Johnny was sure that Dutch's mind was racing with scenarios, of things done to D'avin each day that passed.

The guilt Dutch held for having left D'avin there in old town instead of having him on the ship because of her obsession with getting Khlyen. Now not only did she lose Khlyen, but she lost D'avin too.

Johnny wanted to say it wasn't her fault, but he knew nothing he said would get through to her right now, not in her current mindset. It wasn't her fault. It had been D'avin's choice that led to him being captured by Khlyen, she had told him _not_ to follow him.

But then D'avin went ahead and did what he was told not to do. D'avin was going to be D'avin. Just like he left eight years ago because he saw an opportunity for the Nova Cadets, he had told Johnny, he'd be able to earn more money. They needed the extra money to help with their father's debts. He would go, enlist for a year or two, send the money and he'd be back. Easy. The money did come through, but D'avin never came back. Had D'avin thought it was enough money though, he was wrong. His father had racked up more debt. And their mother had gotten sicker and needed more 'meds'.

Johnny had been worried then. He feared for the worse, that D'avin was dead. He had kept on looking for him though, he hadn't given up. But D'avin... D'avin was alive and he just decided to never come back. He never concerned himself with the consequences of him leaving and not coming back, how much it impacted Johnny. Johnny had given up his dreams of doing what he had loved. It was more than watching his mother waste away and paying off his father's debts. It was the feeling of being left behind like that. But D'avin didn't think about that. He didn't think about consequences like that. Taking unnecessary risks without thinking and then not having to own up to them. Like back then, and like now.

Looking at Dutch openly now, Johnny knew felt a prickle of anger rise in him. It was always like that with D'avin; consequences didn't matter. Johnny swallowed the bitterness in him.

Months ago, D'avin had caused a rift in the team. It had been working well until then when D'avin rocked that boat, like he always did. Dutch was not a woman that lost sleep over any guy. She had felt a connection with D'avin. Perhaps it was even love, dare say. Dutch didn't have much love in her life. From the information Johnny had pieced together, Dutch's life was far from peaches and cream; just blood and death. She was made into a soldier since the moment she could wield a dagger. Although Johnny didn't have a wonderful upbringing either, he never had to live his life killing people.

Johnny remembered how shielded Dutch had been when they first met. She had trusted no one; slept with a gun by her bedside, ready fire at the first sign. Not that Johnny back then could do that much to her without getting his ass kicked. And true, he didn't deserve that much trust either because he did try to steal her ship. But that wasn't the point.

Their real bond didn't form until Johnny had nearly died in trying to save her. The scar was still there, though he'd prefer no scars for the memory. While Dutch had started trusting Johnny at that time, it was also when Johnny realized how much Dutch was to him; she was family. His only family left. He would go to the deep ends for her. Likewise Dutch would do the same. And right now, the person that Dutch would do anything for was D'avin.

While Dutch felt guilty for having left D'avin on Westerley, Johnny knew he was the most guilty of them all. Johnny swallowed a lump in throat. His earlier anger washed away in just knowing how little right he had to be angry with D'avin this time. All this had happened because of him. If he hadn't taken the silver liquid, hadn't been so curious about it, Khylen wouldn't have been on Westerly and D'avin wouldn't have had the opportunity to follow him and he wouldn't be missing right now.

And if anything happened to D'avin while he was held hostage by Khlyen, that was on Johnny. Losing him eight years ago was hard, but knowing this time that it may have been his own doing that caused it, made it more difficult to swallow. For a moment his eyes blurred. God damn it. Was he tearing up? Man up. Seriously. D'avin would laugh in his face if he ever found out he'd cried over him. They would find him, it was just a matter of when.

Right now, Johnny needed to focus. They had a simple delivery that Bellus sent them on; a package to be dropped to a vendor in the Utopia marketplace. Bellus had said as much. Some small fancy box. Johnny knew that Dutch hated detouring in their mission on finding D'avin, but regardless, Lucy didn't run on water; they needed joys to keep things running. Yet thinking of Space Station, he couldn't help but feel a chill. The last time he had visited that place, it was to analyze that liquid he had taken from Khlyen. Someone had died to pay for his curiosity.

Looking again at Dutch and looking at her distant expression, Johnny knew he had to make things right. He would fix this. That's what he did best. Fix things. For all their sakes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Track B**

“Uncle, please, can you bless us?”  a weak voice called out. 

The Scarback paused in midstep and turned to see an elderly woman with two young children, hunched in the corner of a dark alley way.  He was in a hurry, nearly late in fact for a meeting with a friend.  But seeing the desolate expression in the woman and the plea in her voice, he could not deny her.  

“Of course.”  Slowly, he approached the woman, and spoke the words of the faith.

 

_“And the roots grew._

_The seed traveled from a home_

_that we’ve forgotten_

_Finding soil on Qresh._

_And the roots grew.”_

 

“And the roots grew,” she repeated after him, as did the two young ones.

 

_“From one world to two moons,_

_One Mother Tree to unite us all._

_And when we rise,_

_Her branches hold us._

_And when we tire,_

_Her trunk shelters us._

_And when we die,_

_Her roots will carry us home.”_

 

The scarback then drew out a small blade from his robe and made a small cut on his forearm.  The blood he took with his index finger and gently touched the foreheads of the mother and children.

“Praise the trees.” He finished the blessing.

“Praise the trees,” she and the children repeated.

“Thank you, thank you,” said the woman with tears in her eyes.

“No need.  My pain is your pain.”  

The scarback watched as the woman hobbled away with the two malnourished children in tow.  

Times were tough in Westerley, particularly Old Town.  But there was still hope for Westerlens, especially with the Seven generations accord.  Many worked hard in order to reach that goal.  Generations of suffering, only to finally be able to own a patch of land on Leith.  But in truth, the Scarback wondered, how much longer _could_ Westerlens suffer?  The conditions on the moon had deteriorated rapidly in the past few years; raids, crimes and the black rain were nearly a weekly event.  

The poor only got poorer here.  Those that lived in the tunnels, they grew exponentially, with no way to ever become legal citizens...making overcrowding a problem.  While Johnny lived the same way as them now, at least there had been a point in his life where he had an actual home.  It wasn’t the best, but there had been a home.  

Before D’Avin had died, there were some good days that he remembered.  Johnny clung to those memories as lifelines in tough times.  The people of Westerley had little of that, only the hope of a better future.  Johnny was not a stickler for politics, but he had his doubts about the Nine and the Company keeping to the promised land for Westerlens.  Rumor had it, there were plans to amend this Seventh Generation Accord, perhaps extend it to 12 generation or more.  

But be it a rumor or not, things were going to change; and Johnny was going to be a part of the resistance that was going to take down the Company and the Nine.  With their faces plastered often on billboards, with fake smiles and empty promises, Johnny had to swallow the bile at the back of his throat as he passed by a monitor with Illenore Seyah Simms face on it.  The pretty pretty princess’s perfect posture and smile as she reminded everyone that doing right by the Company, they would be rewarded.   It was to Johnny, a mouthful of lies.  

In a few hours, however, all of it was going to change.  The truth would be revealed and the Nine and the Company will receive the pay back the deserved for decades of oppression.

The Royale came into view.  Great, Johnny realized as he checked the time.  He was late.  Fifteen minutes to be exact.  Alvis Akari was not going to be pleased.  

 

***

Upon entering the bar, there were eyes that stared at Johnny.  One of them was a dark haired woman whose gaze lingered longer than others.  Johnny, however, didn’t take notice.  He was used to the stares, so this day was no different than others.  Scarbacks weren’t liked very much, many considered them as problems to the Company’s reform, and others were simply disturbed with what they did; all the cutting and blessings.  But Johnny had little care to that.  The way he saw it was the Scarbacks gave hope for those who didn’t have any.  That was making a difference.

Johnny scanned the room and saw that Alvis was already there; at the back corner of the bar with two other men.  Johnny nodded to Pree in greeting, and the man acknowledged him, but said no more.  Pree didn’t dislike him or like him; but he didn’t hold prejudice against him.  To the man, Johnny had every right to be there as anyone else.  If anyone else had a problem with that, Pree wouldn’t so much as blink an eye before throwing them out.  It was his bar and he didn’t differentiate; everyone was a customer unless they were assh*les or didn’t pay their tab.  

“Alvis,” he greeted his friend.

“You’re late.”  A simple statement, but there was no anger in his tone.

“Sorry.  There was an elderly woman and some kids.  They needed a blessing.”

“Still too soft, Johnny.  A good quality you have, but we’re about to start something big.  I need you focused.”

“I am.  I’m ready,” said Johnny nodding.  

Alvis merely looked at him with an expression he couldn’t quite read.

 

**Alvis Akari**

 

No. The man was not ready. Johnny. He worried for him because in truth, he wasn't meant for this type of work. Over the years since Alvis had known Johnny, he had changed some, but remained for the most part the same. Too moral and good. Alvis should have done a better job in keeping him in the dark about the Resistance. But Johnny was a perceptive guy, in addition to having an unhealthy dose of caring the sh*t out of everything.

When Alvis had first met Johnny, he’d been working in the bricks construction on a fringe town in Westerly.  He was just a boy then, a pale skinny malnourished boy with bright eyes that still held life in them despite its surroundings.  Alvis at the time was already a scarback, following his Master as he went doing his round of blessings.

While Alvis had started learning the blessings and had his share of scars, when he saw Johnny, the boy had multiple scars on him already, some new ones from the work, but others were age old.  What had happened to him? He had wondered then.  Alvis had watched his Master bless Johnny and then they moved on.  Despite having walked with his Master to bless dozens of people daily, Johnny had stood out among them.  Perhaps it was the scars.  Or perhaps it was the impression Johnny left on him before they had left the the construction site that day.  

There were many workers at the site, old, young, children, no one really cared much for each other.  Everyone carried their own weight.  The thing that drove these workers was the bit of joys and the meal ticket that they received at Lunch hour.  Not all Employers gave out these, so many used them not only for their resting meals, but for their dinners as well.  So it wasn't surprising to have some fights over these tickets onsite.  In fact, that day, Alvis met Johnny the first time, that was what had happened.  

There had been a loud altercation that broke out near the edge of the construction site where most workers took their meals.  Alvis’s Master took notice of it since it interrupted his prayer.  He headed over, with Alvis and a few other scarbacks following closely behind, to witness the beating of an old man by a younger man.  He wanted the old man’s meal ticket stating that he worked hard, doing at least two people’s work, while the old man wasn’t holding his weight.  

The old man was no tiger, but he didn’t back down.  There was a exchange of fists, well, more from the younger man’s side however, and within a few minutes, the fight ended.  The old man was on the ground, a deep bloody gash on his forehead and arm that was at an odd angle.

The younger man pried the food ticket from the old grandpa’s good hand, smirked, gave him a good kick before walking away.  The spectators that had watched the fight laughed it off and went on with their business; leaving the fallen man there, bloody and broken.  

Alvis had then noticed Johnny approach the old man and offer him his share of his meal.  The old man practically swiped the food from Johnny with his one working hand, almost afraid that Johnny would change his mind.  The food was scarfed down without leaving a bite for the kid, though the grandpa had at least the heart to mumble a thanks.

Johnny didn’t say anything, he just wrapped the man’s head wound with a clean rag.  Alvis met Johnny’s eyes and the kid gave a half smile to him before he was ordered to get back to work or he would get a beating.

That was the last that Alvis saw him until five years ago, when he went to tech warehouse to have an old comm device to be fixed in Old Town.  Normally Alvis brought his stuff fixed elsewhere, such as Utopia, but he was in a bit of a rush for it to be done.

Alvis saw Johnny there, working as a low level technician that pretty much did whatever the boss and his other colleagues didn’t want to fix; which was everything really.  There were stacks of broken devices ranging from broken coms, headgear, scanners, you named it, it was scattered on the desk like an endless sea of work.  

But none of it seemed to bother the young Jacobis.  Alvis had watched the young man tinker with his com device and within a few minutes had it up and running.  It was at that moment Alvis thought to recruit Johnny.  They needed a techy that was as good as he was.  

And so Alvis worked on recruiting him as a Scarback first.  But after recruiting Johnny and getting to know him, Alvis didn’t see him as a viable option for the Resistance plan.  Problem one that he faced was that Johnny had become a friend, almost like a kid brother in fact.  The other factor guilt.  Johnny had been a simple guy living his life as a techy before Alvis lured him in to be a part of the fight he didn’t need to be a part of.  True it was for the good of Westerley in the end, but Johnny... he didn’t need to be a part of it.  He made things easier, and probably saved a whole lot of Scarbacks lives for being a part of the Resistance, but the price for that could be Johnny’s life.  

So Alvis kept Johnny in dark about the Resistance.  Sent him to the Monastery in Leith for a while even.  But somehow Johnny had found out via an accidental accidental decryption of a message Alvis had sent in secret to his contacts.  After that, Johnny had made it a point that he wanted to be a part of this change.  He wanted to help save Old Town and the rest of Westerley as well.  

Knee deep in the Resistance’s plan, Johnny’s role was critical.  They had planned for this day for a number of years - Johnny’s part was initiate a virus within the Company’s systems.  This required him to hack into their servers.  The hacking in the system part, Alvis was sure was no problem for Johnny.  It was the getting out part that concerned him.  Johnny was great with technology, but when it came to hand to hand combat, let alone aiming a gun at someone, there was really no hope.  It was as if the Gods had decided to grace Johnny Jacobis with two left feet for fighting and a set of blind eyes to shoot.  So, to back Johnny up, Alvis had added two of the best Resistance fighters to accompany his friend to the Company facility; Morgan and Baelif.  With those two by his side, Alvis felt confident his friend was going to make it out alive.

“You remember the plan?”  He asked Johnny.

He nodded, “Yeah.”

“Okay, here’s the program you need to upload to the Company’s server.  Once you have done this, get out of there.  No lingering, just in and out of the facility.  You’ll have about 15 minutes before the guards do their rounds.  Morgan and Baelif,” Alvis nodded to the two other scarbacks, “will be your backup in there if you need help, just contact them on the com.”

“Got it.”

Alright, thought Alvis, all things were now set in motion.  While Johnny was uploading this virus into the Company’s servers, Alvis would be positioning the others in place to roll out the second phase of the plane; the fireworks.

“Alright.  17:00 hours, you head to the shipping docks, that’s where you will catch your ride.  This time, don’t be late,” Alvis looked at him with all seriousness.  “This plan, it will fall apart if you fail.”

“I’ll get it done, Alvis.  You can count on me.”

“I know I can.  Alright.  Good luck everyone.  When this is all over, we’ll have drinks here at the Royale.  For now, let's toast; to Westerley history!"

There were cheers from the three of them at his words.  Alvis looked at the group, Morgan, Baelif, Johnny.  By the Roots, he hoped to see these three faces again.

 

***

 

**Johnny Jacobis**

Johnny arrived at the Ship docks slightly earlier than the stated time, because he had to install something at the Inspecting pad before hand to make a few ‘interferences’ with their tech.  Morgan and Baelif were already there; both were dressed in officer clothes.  If Johnny didn’t know they were scarbacks, he’d have mistaken them for Company men.  They looked at Johnny but said nothing; acknowledgement was given through their eyes.  

Johnny moved himself to a less conspicuous location but still near enough to the Shipping docks.  As he waited for the cargo ship, Johnny looked out to the Old Town skyline.  From this distance, the place certainly matched its name.  Polluted smoke stacks popped up all across the borders of the town.  Johnny couldn’t help but think to himself, would this be the last time he would see this place?  He, however, didn’t get much time to dwell on those thoughts because the sound of arrival sounded for the cargo freight Johnny was suppose to board.   

Morgan arrived with a cargo container and motioned for Johnny to climb in.   _Sigh_.  Johnny really hated enclosed spaces.  Gritting his teeth, Johnny crawled into the crate.  Morgan gave Johnny once last look, one that both: good luck and don’t mess it up all at once, before closing the lid.  And from there on, Johnny saw no light, just darkness.  He could feel the shifting of the box as Morgan and Baelif carried him to the ship, it was jarring so Johnny had to literally hold the sides of the container to avoid shifting too much.  

Finally he felt himself on stable ground.  There was muffled speaking; _ah, the Inspector_.  They must have been doing a scan - making sure that the container contained what it was suppose to; a bunch of scanners.  Johnny felt tense as he waited.  There was more garbled words but then the comforting sound of a beep told Johnny that they had passed the inspection.

Thank the Roots, thought Johnny to himself.  He had been worried the device he had installed earlier docking area had failed to activate.  It required the Inspector to be in range of it, but it wasn’t a perfect tech.  It depended if the Company had updated their codes in the last 24 hours.  Good thing someone got lazy that day.  

The ride to the destination was a long one.  In the dark create with no light at all, Johnny was left to his own thoughts and worries.  What if they had a firewall he couldn’t hack?  Would everything fail then?  What if he didn’t finish the upload?  What if...  there were so many of them.  Morgan and Baelif, why they were there, Johnny wasn’t a fool to the reason.  They were basically bodyguards for Johnny to get the job done.  If anything went wrong, they would be the ones protecting Johnny to finish the upload.  He was sure Alvis would have sent more to follow if it didn’t cause any suspicion, but this was the best the scarback to do.  Johnny was grateful of course, and slightly disappointed in himself not being able hold his ground on his own.  Johnny wouldn’t let them down though.  For them, for Old Town, the whole of Westerley, Johnny wouldn’t let them down no matter the cost.  

The vessel finally docked after what seemed like hours.  He felt the shift of the crate as Morgan and Baelif moved him and it out of the ship.  There were some muffled laughter and small talk that his teammates made with the officers, but things went smoothly.  None of the officers suspected anything.  

Finally Johnny felt the crate stop moving.  There were three taps.  Johnny knew that meant the coast was clear; he just had to wait a few more minutes before exiting the box.

After a tense wait, Johnny finally used his laser to make an exit for himself from his confinement.  By the Roots, it was good to breathe fresh air.  Johnny coughed a fit of dust out of his system and then looked around his surroundings.  Perfect.  He was, as from the schematics he had accessed from the Company servers, close to the server station.  Now to get there.

“Morgan?” He said in a low voice.

The comm came to life with a whistle.  

Good.  It was working okay.  Johnny knew they couldn’t exactly be talking to him over the com, but he could tell them the situation.

“I’m heading to the server room.  Will give you an update once I’m in.”

There was a whistle of a tune and Johnny took it as acknowledgement.

Getting to the server room, Johnny used the crawlspaces.  It was again, damned enclosed space.  He just never could win.  Relax he reminded himself as he navigated through the maze of tunnels.

Finally, he saw the exit.  Johnny wasn’t about to drop in the server room, he ran a quick scan to see if anyone was below; noone.  Yes.  Perfect.  Maybe he would make it out of there in one piece.

Johnny slipped down the ladder slowly and dropped off into the empty room.  

“I’m in.  Finding the console now.”

It was a large room filled with multiple consoles.  Damn.  Which one?  Johnny scanned the room and decided that he would try the console that had what looked like a big crane hovering over a disk.  There was a odd looking standing mirror that was erected next to it.  The Company seriously had some weird stuff installed.  Did someone want to check out their reflection while at work?

Focus Johnny, focus! He chided himself.  There wasn’t a lot of time.  Once he got into the system, he needed to send the signal to Alvis.  They were waiting for him.

Johnny started to type, beads of sweat formed on his forehead.  The Company’s server was heavily guarded, just as he feared.  There were multiple layers of firewalls.  But, Johnny had thankfully considered these scenarios and prepared ahead of time a set of algorithms to bypass it.  Yes.  Got it.  He was in the system.  Accessing the disk drive, he forced eject of the current data disk.  Johnny picked up the memory card and slipped in the disk that was in his pocket.  

Time to do some damage, thought Johnny with a smile.  He managed to push the disk into the system when a woman’s voice called out, “Step away from the console, Scarback.”

Johnny turned and saw a dark haired woman, dressed in leather gear with a blaster trained on him.

Damn it.  Johnny just needed to activate the virus on the disk.  He was so close.  The woman, however, wasn’t wavering.

“Johnny Jacobis?”  Not waiting for an answer, the woman went on, “I’ve been watching you.  I have a warrant for you.  Dead or alive.  I’d prefer alive, but if you don’t step away from the console, I’ll have to take the other option.”

A Killjoy.  Damn it.  

“How’s it going?”  It was Baelif.  He was asking another person likely that same question, because Johnny could hear the man’s garbled response in the background of the comm.

“Got a problem,” said Johnny.  “But I’m going to solve it.”

That drew concern from Baelif, “What --”

But Johnny didn’t wait to hear what he had to say, he made his move.  As did the Killjoy.

Johnny felt the blast hit him, but not before he activated the virus.  With a satisfied smile, he saw the lights all across the console start to blink wildly.  

“It’s done.  But it looks like I won’t be able to take up that drink you fellas.” He said softly.  Gods, is this what a blaster shot felt like?

Johnny could hear Baelif start to say something, but he couldn't make it out.  The mechanical crane above the console he was at had started to make a whining noise and then a beam suddenly shot out from it, hitting the mirror which then reflected and found its way to Johnny.  It really wasn't his day at all, was his last thought as he was engulfed in the bright beam of light.  

 

**Track A**

 

**Johnny Jacobis**

Johnny Jacobis was relieved to have gotten his brother back from Khylen’s hands and all in one piece.  After weeks of toiling and going through some pretty extreme measures to get through the protected shielding of the Arkyn moon, the satisfaction of finding his brother alive was well worth it.  

Khylen had apparently tried to infect D’Avin with some magic green goop - and it had backfired on him.  D’Avin was immune to it.  Too bad Fancy wasn’t.  Johnny was glad that they had discovered _that_ part time just before lifting off the moon; otherwise they’d have had a level six stuck onboard with them.  And Johnny had really enough dealings with them.  The one that licked Dutch on Qresh.  Thinking about it still made him feel disgusted. _Because seriously, who did that sort of thing?_

In terms of how things were going with Dutch and D’Avin... well, they weren’t not not speaking to each other or playing the game of avoidance.  So that, Johnny took as a very good sign.  Things were back to normal.  Now they just needed to get to the RAC and have D’Avin reinstated as part of their team.  

Before that, though, Dutch and he had to turn in one last warrant. While they had finished the fancy box warrant, the same client had requested another item be recovered for her; some antique mirror.

The pickup of the item wasn’t too hard, well, at least for Dutch and him.  Some Illegal traders had gotten a hold of it, and they just had to punch their way in to get it; nothing out of the ordinary.  Thankfully the mirror was in good condition.  Well.  It had been in good condition when they picked it up from the traders.  Hopefully it still was after all the rumble and tumble that Lucy took getting in and out of Arkyn.  Maybe, he thought, he’d double check that.  He’d hate to lose joy over such an easy warrant.  

Johnny made his way to the cargo hold and scanned the room for the crate where the mirror was placed in.  Carefully lifting the antique out and standing it up on the cargo bay floors, Johnny inspected the item to see any damaged.  Nope.  Aside from some minor scuff marks, the mirror seemed to have survived the the scuffle on Arkyn unscathed.  Good, good, thought Johnny.  Standing in front of the long mirror, however, Johnny couldn’t help but catch himself in the mirror’s reflection.  Striking out a pose, Johnny grinned to himself, _Why you handsome devil you_.

And then something freakish happened.  The mirror started to glow.   _What the hells?_ He thought, as he started to move out of the way.  He was, however, not fast enough.  The mirror suddenly exploded out a white beam and in a flash, Johnny Jacobis blinked out of existence.

 

***

 

D’Avin was glad to be back.  After everything had happened, he’d been worried that whatever chance he had in getting back into Dutch’s good graces had been shot.  But Dutch was more forgiving than he had expected.  He was glad of it.  He was also glad that whatever Khlyen had tried to infect him with had failed.  But in all honesty, the weird memory of seeing Dutch in his head, on Arkyn had been disturbing.  There was a war going on that moon, and Dutch was front and centre in it.  It left D’Avin with a lot of questions and few answers.  D’Avin knew that Dutch was still hard pressed in finding out Khlyen’s plans, but there was something different in her tone.  He noticed she didn’t say his name in vehemence as much.  Perhaps it was because Khlyen had let D’Avin go?  Perhaps it confused her.  It confused D’Avin too, that was for sure.  

D’Avin didn’t know _what_ the hells was going on, but one thing was for sure, he was going take things day by day.  Good graces and back on Lucy, check.  Now next step, check on the cargo that Dutch asked him to.  Listen to your boss.  Don’t sleep with her.  D’Avin could do that.  He _will_ do that.  The listening part.  Not the latter.  

Whistling, D’Avin made his way to the cargo hold, and as he entered, in saw a body, still on the ground.  There was blood.  Ah, shit, it was Johnny.

D’Avin raced to his younger brother’s side.

He’d been hit with a blaster on his back; a pretty bad wound in fact.  Immediately he connected with Dutch on the com.  “Dutch, I’m in the cargo hold, something’s happened to Johnny.  He’s been shot.”

“What?” She was shocked as well, “On my way.”

“Meet me in the infirmary.”

“Got it.”

D’Avin picked Johnny up in a fireman’s carry, careful not agitate his wound, and raced to the infirmary.

When he got to there, Dutch was already present.

Her face was pale as D’Avin lay the unconscious Johnny on his side.

“What the hells happened?” She demanded, coming beside Johnny.

“No damn idea.  Just entered the cargo bay and there he was on the ground.  How bad is it,” asked D’Avin.

“Pretty bad,” said Dutch as she eyed Johnny’s injury.  “We have something that we can stabilize him here till we can get to a medical facility.  Lucy, take us to the nearest Med ship.”

“Coordinates entered, Dutch.” answered Lucy.

If the ship moved faster, D’Avin didn’t know.  He just knew that seeing his brother injured like this worried the hells out of him.

They docked at a med station within an hour and rushed Johnny in.  While it wasn’t as fancy as the other facility where Johnny was treated after he was stabbed by D’Avin, they were still efficient.  

Johnny, according to the doctors, was stable and expected to wake in a few hours.

Both D’Avin and Dutch stayed by his side waiting for him to regain consciousness.  They wanted to know what the hells had happened.  There had been no weapons in the cargo bay and Lucy had detected no intruders onboard.  Unless there was a ghost onboard.  If not that, then Johnny decided to shoot himself _in the back_ no less, and then reholster his weapon afterwards.

Unlikely.  But there had to be an explanation.  

Finally there was movement on the sick bed.  Johnny mumbled something inaudible and then his eyes slowly opened.  

D’Avin was came up beside him immediately.

“Brother, you have to seriously stop getting yourself nearly killed.”

D’Avin expected Johnny to jest back that the last time it was his fault he almost died, but instead of the snide sarcasm, he got the shocked look from him.

“D’Av?”

Okay.  Wierd.

“Johnny?” He said in a drawled out voice.

“D’Av, is that... is that really you?”

Alright, this was seriously unsettling.  Did his brother hit his head too?

“Yea, it’s me.”

“Then I must be dead.”

That remark only made D’Avin’s brows furrow in confusion.  “No... that means you’re alive, Johnny.”

“No.  I must be dead.  Or dreaming.”

“Johnny,” it was Dutch who breathed out his brother’s name in relief.  

Johnny’s eyes slowly slid towards Dutch’s face.  There was a pause and then he literally tried to back away, which wasn’t very much since he was still attached to an IV and confined to a med bed.

“Stay away!  It’s too late.  I’ve uploaded it.”

“Johnny,” Dutch said slowly, frozen to the spot, afraid to agitate him further, “what are you talking about?”

Johnny remained mute, staring at Dutch like she was the enemy.  

Shit, thought D’Avin, Johnny must have had a head injury the doctors didn’t detect.

“Aright kiddo, I’m going to check with the Docs on what happened to you.  Can you not try to run away while I do that?”

Johnny didn’t move an inch, nor did he acknowledge whatever D’Avin asked him.

This normal day was turning out a lot crazier than expected, thought D’Avin, as he went to get help.

 

**TRACK B**

 

Johnny blinked once.  Then twice.  And then the third time he finally was able to see something besides the white light; and it was the end of a blaster trained at his face.

“Get up, scarback,” a woman’s voice ordered.  Johnny focused his eyes at the speaker and tried to keep his mouth from dropping.  Dutch?

No.  Not Dutch.  It was her, but not.  She was in uniform.   _Since when did Dutch wear something so ... bland looking?_  But not only that, it was obvious to Johnny that he was no longer onboard Lucy any more.  His mind raced about at what could have happened.   _The mirror.  God, am I in a parallel universe?  Whoa... pretty cool.  Okay, not cool,_ realizing that Dutch not Dutch’s gun was still trained on him.   _Presently in danger Johnny.  Stop letting your inner geek trump possible death scenario_.  

_So this world’s Johnny, assuming he was right about being in a parallel dimension, he was a scarback?  Well.  Something seriously must have happened to me here.  Okay... Scarback... and in a Company facility.  A mission.  Yeah.  A mission... and likely to do with the Resistance.  Alvis.  Did he head this world’s Resistance too?_

All the questions though, Johnny knew, could only be answered if he had time.  And to have time, he had to be alive for that.  

“Getting up,” he said slowly, raising his arms in surrender.

“What did you do,” Dutch not Dutch demanded, gesturing at the crazily blinking console.

Johnny looked at it and gave the only answer he could give, “I have no idea.”

That earned him a threat with a charge of her blaster.

“Seriously, I... don’t know.”  

Dutch not Dutch wasn’t satisfied with his answer, but she had no choice to but take it as it was.  

“Move here,” she ordered.

Johnny moved as she specified, and stood to the side as she, still both trained her gun at him and worked on the console to likely access the mainframe.   But whatever had happened, this Dutch couldn’t stop what was happening.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she finally motioned for Johnny to come with her.  

“Get moving.” She snapped when Johnny moved too slowly to her liking.

“Moving, moving.” Johnny hurried his pace.  He couldn’t help but noticed that there was blood on the console.  Johnny checked himself; nope no injuries.  Whatever had happened there, someone had gotten shot.  And that mirror... it was the key to getting back home.  But right now, he was moving further and further away from it.  While a part of him wanted to make a leap for it, he, A. didn’t know how to activate it, and B. was pretty sure this Dutch would kill him before he could get back.  

  
Johnny would just have to figure out another way. His hope though, the Johnny that was in his place, was a friendly, otherwise things could get messy on Lucy.


End file.
